Great posting.

Just so you know, scientists can find cities from satellites now using (1) light detection at night and (2) methane emissions, a product of combustion and leaking natural gas lines.

If there is some proof of permafrost releases of methane I'd love to see the reports and sources, as it seems conjectural to me (e.g., it is too soon to tell, as mentioned above).  

As an add-on, Dr. Jeff Masters found that last month was the second hottest ever in a 128-year history. Most of Siberia was well above climo although the northern tier of America was cooler due to La Nina - except parts of Alaska were relatively warmer.
-sammie

Onward through the fog

A good friend of mine does GIS work in Alaska, and his colleagues up there have told him that that the melting permafrost is the gigantic problem that no one's talking about, which explodes once it starts to melt.  I sure hope they're wrong, but this looks like the Brontosaurus in the coal mine.

Some hydrate and permafrost thaw is in the pipeline.

Not the end, not yet.

...I was under the impression that at current rates, we'd reach that number well before then?

If, even with the increase, we don't reach 450 ppm for the next few decades, that gives me much greater hope that we can reverse this trend before it reaches extremely catastrophic levels.

Don't worry!

Let's say I was concerned about methane releases from melting permafrost in the Arctic region. Well, could you mine the methane like a municipal landfill?  

Onward through the fog

With lateral drilling it should be possible.  You could drill under the permafrost along the whole edge of the melt line.  The pipe would need to have holes to accept the gas.

It would be a titanic effort though.  Getting the eqwuipment to the remote regions.

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if james hansen et al are right about 350 as target and 50 being the safe bet for what we can take out, assuming no further pace increase, we hit 400 in 2013 and 425 (their outside #) in 2023.

when do we set up camp in DC? the carbon market idea is terrifying.

We all make the mistake of focusing only on CO2 as if the methane, nitrous oxide, CFC 12, HCFC 22, perfluoromethane, sulfur hexafluoride, water vapor, etc. are not important.

In fact, they represent a climate forcing potention equal to about 13 percent of the CO2 level.

2007 CO2 level is about 385 ppm; thus CO2 equalvents are comparable to a CO2 level of 412 ppm today.

A lot to think about.

John McCormick

I'm surprised Grist didn't mention Joe Romm's appearance on Nova this week -- he seems like a smart reasonable guy.

As far as "melting permafrost" increasing GHG and global warming...mmm...why is this never mentioned since the ice has been melting all along...

J. Bailo Participant Texeme.Construct()

If methane is worse than co2 why aren't we doing more to prevent the escape into the atmosphere?
Manure management strategies can use the tons of methane produced by our industrial agriculture (namely dairy, swine and poultry)for energy production. Methane from landfills could also be sequestered for energy.

I've been hearing about the discovery of massive quantities of methane hydrates found in deep ocean sediments. I seem to remember the figure of 3 trillion metric tons estimated under the ocean floor.

Is there new information on this?

"...why aren't we doing more to prevent the escape into the atmosphere?"

Farm biogas digestion has the potential to effectively save 25 times the GHG that it emits when converted to electric power, by preventing manure run off.  And it's a great backup power source for the renewable grid.

It will revive the farm economy too.  And provide organic fertilizer that will cut farm costs and make organic farming profitable.

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